A Home
by Magnolie
Summary: What if Regina had other plans with Belle and didn't lock her up to use her later? What if she wanted a favor in exchange for his beautiful caretaker and returned her to Rumpelstiltskin? / Rumbelle Reuinion within the fary-tale land; Eventually Fluff


A Home

_- So I was thinking. The way Rumplestiltskin replied to Regina when she told him that Belle was shunned by her father was just so heart-breaking to me, I almost cried. I just love those two and this is my answer to the question: 'what if… Regina had given him another answer on the question if Belle needed a home'  
I hope you enjoy!_

"What tragedy?" he turned around to the wicked witch, he had hoped not to see for a while.

"You don't know? " Regina looked at him with false shock on her face. "After she got home, her fiancée had gone missing and after her stay here, her … association with you – no one would want her of course." She made a short break, "Her father shunned her, cut her off, shut her out." There as an evil smile on her lips… she had him exactly where she wanted. All sad and mourning his lost love, willing to do everything to have her back in his arms.

"So she needs… a home?" was all he managed to say. Anger and rage had long before turned into desperation. He hadn't had one peaceful night since his belle had left the castle. She was the first thing he thought about in the morning and the last thought in the night before he fell asleep – the only gleam of light in the dark Castle. And she appeared in every nightmare that woke him. This was cruel. Could it be? Could she be hurt? Or even worse?

Regina looked at him for long silent moments. She had intercepted Belle only a few days after the girl had flew from her father's lands and imprisoned her. She had been hunting some Chinese dragon. A real warrior that poor, little thing. Oh, she wanted to be cruel to her, had planned to use her against Rumplestiltskin later but now something else was coming to her mind.

She crossed her arms and puckered her lips before she grinned.

"What if I knew someone, that knew someone, that met someone who might know where your little… sweetheart is located?"

Suddenly a gleam of hope arose within him. He froze in his every movement and stared at her unbelievingly. She wasn't dead. She was alive and she could return to him, he could have her back and beg her to forgive him. She wasn't lost.

"So, I could ask that someone, that knew someone, that met someone who might know where she is, and return her to you." She took one of the cups from the tray and looked at the chipped edge.

As soon as the words had left her mouth he knew he would give her everything she wanted, no matter what it was.

"And what would your majesty want in exchange?" he silently asked trying not to reveal his desperation.

"A favor." She put the damaged cup back to the tray and looked at him with another evil grin.

"A single favor I can use whenever I want it."

Everything inside of him, every fiber of his being was screaming to clinch the deal so he could have Belle back as soon as possible but he refused to give Regina a desperate cry on top of her cake, so remained silent for a few seconds before he simply nodded.

"Magnificent! You're very quiet today Rumple, keep up with that – makes it much nicer dealing with you." She grinned.

"When will you bring her here?" was his only response.

"I didn't say I will bring her. I don't even know where she is. But I will ensure that she arrives at your castle… in one piece." She twinkled.

Rumpelstiltskin put his hands behind his back before he dismissed the Queen with a bow. He had already revealed too much and he knew that she would use it against him one day. But it didn't matter for now. She would bring the only thing back he loved besides Bae: His careful, soft, kind, beautiful caretaker, the only good in his life, his Belle.

Regina left amused. He did actually try to hide all his feelings, he felt towards that girl, from her. Ridiculous.

She awoke feeling horrible. Rain was falling down on her, which was the only thing she realized before she fell back into the deep dark void of her mind.

The next time she gained consciousness she smelled the foul mud under her hands and face. Rain had stopped, she was cold and soaked. But nothing on earth would actually get her to stand up. She was alone in this godforsaken world. Her only true love to stubborn to realize how much she truly loved him and her ever so kind father unwilling to see her again.

She might as well die here in the mud. And so she closed her eyes again. She was freezing.

The third time she came to, it had started raining again. This time she actually raised her head to look around but it was already night for it was dark and despite the rain she could hear an owl shriek. She wasn't in the small dungeon anymore. Belle sat up to look around and found that she had almost no memory of how she had gotten here. She felt dizzy and it took some time to realize that she was sitting by the wayside of a street in a forest that seemed all so familiar to her. She looked down and saw that she was wearing her blue dress that Rumple had given to her a few days after her arrival again. It was covered in mud and rain and tears.

She put one hand up to her shoulder realizing that she was also wearing the green cloak she had found once on her bed at the begin of the first winter she had ever spend with him.

"Don't want you to catch a cold." He had mumbled over tea, when she had entered the room smiling and thanking him for the beautiful present.

Him. Rumpelstiltskin. The man who held her heart and who would hold it forever. A single, hot tear appeared in her eye and soon made its way down her cheek before it dropped down onto the path where all the other raindrops had gathered.

When she looked up again, she suddenly realized why she knew this path. It led directly up to the Dark Castle and down to the village where she had once fetched fresh straw for him. She would never forget this day! It was the only thing keeping her alive while she had been imprisoned. She had thought about it a thousand times. Never would she forget the sight of the trees, even in the sinister darkness around her, was she sure that this was the way that led to her home. She was home, she was home and she wasn't far from him! Happiness and hope both filled her heart at once and she took what little power she had left in her body to stand up. It struck her after the first few meters that he had send her away, that she wasn't welcome at his home anymore.

Another tear made its way down and others followed. He did not want her. He would send her away the minute he saw her.

But what other option had she left? She managed to stand up again and make her way up to the Castle she had once called her home hoping, he would at least let her in sleep in the tower for a night.

It took her forever. She had to rest after every other hundred yards and sit down. Sometimes she would run to get forward faster but the ground was so muddy and soft that she would always fall after a few faster steps. Blood mixed into the new colors of her dress.

But when the stairs of the Dark Castle finally came into her eyesight after hours, she could not stop again. She was almost there!

Belle crawled up the 40 stairs that separated her from the front door. The rain had now long washed all mud from her face and body as she reached the last one, heavily breathing.

'Not here, not now, you won't give up in this very moment!' she told herself all over again and slowly creped to the door. With the last of her strength she gripped the knocker and slammed it down once, twice and even for a third time before she lost consciousness again.  
She was at his mercy.

A strange noise woke him in the middle of the night. No one had knocked on his door for forever and he wasn't used to its sound so he first though thunder had cut down a tree somewhere but then he heard it again, and again.

Belle.

With a fillip he was dressed and wearing shoes before he raced down the corridor and stairs to his main hall. His heart was beating loud. He had been waiting for her for 3 days, prepared a comfortable bedroom and heated it himself. He had not dared leaving the castle in fear she would find the halls empty and leave again. In the first night he had not even been able to sleep but sat at the window of his study and waited for her.  
This was the first sign of someone on his property since then. He tore the doors open but no one was there. From the corner of his eye he saw a slight movement beneath him on the ground.

There she was. Her soft brown curls were soaked and dirty and her face was pale, her eyes closed. And yet she was the most beautiful living thing he had ever seen.

"Belle!" he knelt down to turn her around but she wouldn't open her eyes. "Belle." He silently whispered when he took her in his arms and brought her up to his chest. She still wouldn't show any sign of life. His heart was breaking again. Whoever had done this to his Belle, his sweet and kind Belle, would suffer until the end of his days.

He put one arm under her legs and slowly raised her from the ground. She had returned to him, she was near him again and he would never let her go again.

The fourth time Belle awoke she didn't hear the rain anymore. It was warm around her and she smelled sweet tea. Several blankets were wrapped around her and a fire crackled next to her. As the clock tolled five times she opened her eyes she could see that is was evening again already. The sun was setting behind the large windows and the sky was clear and orange.

As she turned her head she realized that she was laying on a chaise lounge in one of the great guest rooms of her former home. She recognized it from the odd clockwork on the fireplace she had cleaned so many times always imagining what it would be like to sleep in such a big bed on so soft mattresses and feathers.  
He had let her in.

Still feeling a little dizzy, she sat up slowly to see over the backrest of the lounge and it struck her like a lightning as she saw him sitting on one of the chairs behind a small table. His head lay on his arms and he wasn't moving.

She swallowed hard. He had carried her up here, warmed her by the fire and dried her before he had wrapped her in all these blankets. He wouldn't send her away again, he was the reason she was back. He had probably made some deal with her abductor so he would set her free. And even if not – why would he be so caring if he was planning to get rid of her again?

Belle swallowed hard before she dared to call attention on herself.

"Rumpelstiltskin?" she asked tentatively but he didn't react.

"Rumpelstiltskin?" she tried again a bit louder but with success this time. He raised his head and looked her way first a little tired but as he realized it was her calling him his sight became clearer. Even from afar she could see something in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Belle!" he stood up fast and came towards her, kneeling down besides the chaise lounge taking her hand into both of his, feeling if it was finally warm. "You're awake!"

She smiled down at him, nodding.

"I am." She swallowed a tear. "You let me in."

"Of course I let you in." He hugged her tightly "And I will always let you in if you ever want to come back again."

She pressed him away from her slightly.

"What do you mean?" she asked puzzled.

"I would never dare to lock you up again. You are free to walk after you have recovered. You surely want to leave." He looked at her sadly and caressed her cheek.

Belle smiled and took his head in both of her hands this time.

"What makes you think I would ever leave here again?"

"Belle, I am still a monster. I could never give you anything you would want – I can't even… kiss you." No matter how badly he wanted to feel his lips on hers again for a single moment – his curse meant power and power meant many things but also being able to protect her from any harm.

Her smile grew wider as she slowly brought her lips to his so they were only millimeters apart. "Then I will go to bed with you every evening and wake next to you every morning for the rest of my life. And I will bring my lips close to yours just as now and tell you that I love you with all my heart. And you will reply it to me and it will be everything I could ever want."

Her lips brushed his lightly only for a second; long enough to savior the fracture of the moment but much too short for the curse to fade.

"I love you." She said.

"And I love you too."

_- So, I hope you liked it! I somehow tried to adapt what is actually said by Belle and Rumpel on the episode when they reunite (still in awe of that btw.) There's another Rumbelle fanfiction press so wait for it ;)_


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